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Tom Grove Advanced Energy Industries, Inc (970) 407-6313

Thomas Named Director of Facilities Planning for Advanced Energy

FORT COLLINS, Colorado (April 8, 1998)—Kevin Thomas has been named Director of Facilities Planning for Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (AE). In announcing the appointment, AE’s COO Hollis Caswell said, “The growth of AE has consistently presented challenges in terms of providing adequate space. We’ve been fortunate to have Brent Backman planning for this important resource in the past, and now Brent is turning this responsibility over to Kevin. Currently we are living with restricted space. We have had to ask people to accept more cramped quarters than we would like because of our rapid growth. We will be looking to Kevin to see that our future requirements are adequately addressed.”

 

Mr. Thomas has been with AE for nine years, most recently as Director of Manufacturing for several of AE’s product lines. In addition to his new responsibilities, Mr. Thomas will remain as Director of Manufacturing for the Semiconductor business unit.

In his new capacity as Director of Facilities, Mr. Thomas is now responsible for long-term, strategic planning for AE’s campuses worldwide, including Colorado, California, Texas, Massachusetts, Japan, Korea, Germany, and the UK. Mr. Thomas commented, “At AE, we’ve always prided ourselves on having outstanding facilities. We see them as a tool to optimize employee morale, productivity, and flexibility. Our facilities help us attract and retain top employees. Additionally, our customers are positively influenced when they visit our attractive, high-tech environment. AE has historically done a great job of providing excellent facilities in the face of sustained, dramatic growth. My challenge will be to ensure that our facilities keep pace with our strategic growth worldwide.”

Founded in 1981, AE is a leading supplier of power conversion and control systems for plasma-based thin film production equipment. Our systems are critical to industrial processes that use gaseous plasmas to deposit or etch thin film layers on materials or substrates such as glass, silicon, and metals during the manufacture of semiconductors, data storage media, flat panel displays, and a host of other products.